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But as night fell, Li Jiancheng decided it was best to stop, as there were no electric lights at night. After instructing a few blacksmiths, he led his men back to the Eastern Palace.
After dinner, Li Jiancheng sought out Niu Fu to inquire about his search for Yuwen Shiji. Niu Fu shook his head, indicating that he had not encountered Yuwen Shiji today. Since he often stayed close to Li Jiancheng, the people from Prince Qin's mansion recognized him. Therefore, Niu Fu could not directly approach Yuwen Shiji at Prince Qin's mansion. He also could not wait outside for too long, as it would raise suspicion.
Niu Fu devised a plan to wait outside the residence of Zhongshu Ling Feng Deyi. He reasoned that Yuwen Shiji had a good relationship with Feng Deyi, as they had both supported the Tang dynasty together. Thus, Yuwen Shiji would likely visit Feng Deyi frequently.
Li Jiancheng approved of Niu Fu's strategy. Gaining Yuwen Shiji's support was not something that could be accomplished overnight, and Li Jiancheng was not in a hurry. He encouraged Niu Fu to continue waiting outside Feng Deyi's residence over the next few days.
Mentioning Feng Deyi gave Li Jiancheng more confidence in winning over Yuwen Shiji. There was no doubt that Feng Deyi supported him. The last time he went to Ren Zhi Palace to plead for Li Jiancheng was clear evidence of that. Of course, most ministers in court supported Li Jiancheng because he was the crown prince and likely the future emperor. Would those ministers dare to offend him? Even if they wanted to support Li Shimin, they could only do so discreetly.
The ministers' support for Li Jiancheng mainly stemmed from their awareness that Emperor Li Yuan backed him. This was evident from the death of Liu Wenjing. Liu Wenjing had been a close friend of Li Yuan and a founding hero of the Tang dynasty. However, regarding the issue of establishing a crown prince, he disagreed with another founding hero, Pei Ji. Pei Ji strongly advocated for the legitimate eldest son, Li Jiancheng, to be crowned as crown prince, while Liu Wenjing supported Li Shimin.
Due to their opposing views on the crown prince issue, Pei Ji and Liu Wenjing often clashed on other matters as well. Eventually, Pei Ji, in a fit of rage, falsely accused Liu Wenjing of treason. It was obvious to anyone that Liu Wenjing could not possibly be guilty of treason, yet Li Yuan believed the accusation. Even Prince Qin Li Shimin's pleas were in vain; ultimately, Li Yuan executed Liu Wenjing.
Liu Wenjing's execution was publicly justified by claiming he plotted treason. The real reason? It was simply because he supported Li Shimin as crown prince. The ministers were well aware of this fact.
After Liu Wenjing's death, no one in court dared to bring up the issue of establishing Li Shimin as crown prince again. Li Yuan's refusal to name Li Shimin as crown prince did not stem from doubts about his abilities; rather, it was a direct consequence of the poor example set by Emperor Yang Guang of Sui.
Li Shimin’s behavior closely mirrored that of Yang Guang before his ascension!
Li Jiancheng understood all this too well. The court, the harem, and even his father were all supportive of him. What he lacked was military power.
Yet military strength was crucial for determining victory or defeat. Those ministers and ladies in the harem could only talk; they were powerless in the face of swords and spears. Even Li Yuan himself would feign wisdom with phrases like "the confusion of throwing the shuttle."
Thus, regardless of how much support he had in court, Li Jiancheng’s primary task remained strengthening his military power.
Because without strong military forces, even if he reversed the outcome of the Xuanwu Gate Incident, could he secure his throne?
The answer was uncertain! Historically, after winning the Xuanwu Gate Incident, why did Li Shimin manage to stabilize his reign? It wasn't just due to his effective handling of post-incident measures; most importantly, the military leaders were fundamentally aligned with him.
Otherwise, even if Li Shimin had controlled Chang'an back then, how could the other stationed troops not have rebelled? Those generals had fought alongside Li Shimin to conquer the world. They had hoped for Li Shimin to become emperor.
Of course, there were a few generals who were not loyal to Li Shimin, like the former Yang Wengan. But such individuals were too few; would they dare to oppose Li Shimin? Certainly not.
Based on this reasoning, Li Jiancheng had to strengthen his military power. Moreover, he could not allow Li Shimin to die at his hands. Otherwise, someone would surely rise up to avenge him.
However, strengthening military power was no easy task. In the early stages, secretly recruiting soldiers nearly got Li Jiancheng branded as a traitor by Li Yuan! This father was also wary of his son.
While it might seem that this was about dealing with Li Shimin, Li Yuan did not think so. Some people with ulterior motives would not say it that way either!
Thus, Li Jiancheng decided to start by enhancing the combat effectiveness of weapons. When my sword can easily cut through the opponent's spear, our combat strength will undoubtedly increase.
The key was that Li Yuan, Li Shimin, and Li Yuanji could never imagine that I, Li Jiancheng, could create weapons that would easily overpower them.
As the year-end approached and the weather turned cold, Li Yuan canceled the court meetings. For Li Jiancheng, not having to attend court was definitely a good thing.
Waking up naturally felt quite pleasant. After breakfast, Li Jiancheng hurried off to the Blacksmith Shop.
He worked tirelessly at the Blacksmith Shop all morning and didn’t return for lunch. Instead, he had someone buy a meal for him and ate with everyone at the shop before continuing to guide them in blacksmithing.
Li Jiancheng had studied mechanics and understood methods of steel forging. After graduation, he often read materials magazines and spent considerable time researching alloy tool steel forging techniques.
However, despite knowing the processes, everything in the Tang Dynasty relied on manual labor; it was incredibly difficult to forge alloy tools.
Just merging and welding materials was quite labor-intensive. The steel bars they produced cracked after just a few twists due to insufficient toughness.
Li Jiancheng had to analyze the reasons repeatedly and improve the processes time and again.
While they were busy working hard, Ma Qiang suddenly rode in at full speed.
Seeing Ma Qiang’s hurried demeanor made Li Jiancheng wonder if something serious had happened.
“Your Highness, Prince Qi is looking for you!” Ma Qiang jumped off his horse and said hastily.
What could this fourth brother want now? Li Jiancheng had told everyone that matters concerning the Blacksmith Shop must be kept secret from Li Shimin and Li Yuanji. Now that Li Yuanji had come to the Eastern Palace looking for him, Ma Qiang must have feared that Li Yuanji would find out about the Blacksmith Shop, which is why he rushed over.
“Continue your work; don’t worry about making mistakes!” he instructed a few blacksmiths before quickly leaving.
Upon returning to the Eastern Palace, he found that Li Yuanji had already been waiting in the living room for quite some time.
"I'm sorry to keep you waiting, Fourth Brother!" Li Jiancheng expressed his apologies first.
"Eldest Brother, why are you out running around in this cold weather? You seem quite warm," Li Yuanji said curiously, looking at Li Jiancheng who had just rushed back.
"Well, I heard Fourth Brother was coming, so I hurried back," Li Jiancheng explained hastily, quickly changing the subject. "Is there something you need from me?"
Though he wondered how someone could be warm after riding back on horseback, Li Yuanji didn't dwell on it. Instead, he urgently said to Li Jiancheng, "Eldest Brother, do you know that Father has allowed Li Shimin to privately recruit two thousand soldiers?"
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